Mississippi River levels will stay the same level, Army Corps says

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A top Army Corps of Engineers official says she believes the low Mississippi River will remain open to shipping, partly justifying the agency's decision to not release more water from the Missouri River into the Mississippi.

Army Assistant Secretary Jo-Ellen Darcy, in a Thursday letter obtained by The Associated Press, tells lawmakers from Mississippi River states that the agency won't be scaling back the amount of Missouri River water it began withholding last month from the Mississippi.

Lawmakers and the barge industry had sought the extra water.

Darcy cites this week's revised Mississippi River forecast that shows the level of that waterway not dropping as quickly as feared. And she says the Corps is expediting the removal of massive, shipping-impeding rock formations in the Mississippi south of St. Louis.

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